On His Sister, St. Gorgonia, translated by Leo P
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
IN praising my sister, I shall be honoring my own family. Yet, while she is a member of my family, I shall not on that account praise her falsely, but be cause what is true is for that reason praiseworthy. Moreover, this truth is not only well founded but also well known. Nor would I be allowed to speak with partiality even if I wished to do so. The reason is that my listener stands like a skillful arbiter, between my discourse and the truth, and censures unmerited praise, yet also demands what is due, at least if he be just. And so I am not afraid of running beyond the bounds of truth, but, on the contrary, of falling short of the truth and thereby lessening her reputation by an inadequate eulogy. For it is a difficult task to find action and words to match her excellence. We should not, then, praise undeservedly the qualities of others nor should we disparage what is found in our own, if it be truly praiseworthy. Lack of relationship should not be an advantage and kinship prove to be a handi cap. For in both cases, by the praise of the one and the dis regard of the other, there would not be a fair and just evaluation of the truth. But if we make the truth our standard and rule, and fix our eyes on this alone, ignoring con sideration of the vulgar and the mean, we shall both praise what merits praise and pass over what is deserving of silence.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
(2) If we count it an unholy thing to defraud our kindred of anything, or to slander, accuse, or wrong them in any way, great or small, and regard injustice to those nearest to us as the greatest of crimes, it would be most absurd to think that we should be acting equitably in robbing them of such an oration—which is due the virtuous above all, and by which we can render their memory immortal—and be more concerned with the charges of partiality made by evil men than with the just demands of the good. Certainly, if lack of personal knowledge or evidence does not prevent us, al though this would be far more just, from praising strangers, friendship and the envy of the multitude will not prevent us from praising those known to us, especially those who have departed this life, and with whom it is too late to curry favor, since they are beyond the reach, among other things, of praise or blame.
(3) Since I have sufficiently justified my position and shown that this discourse is altogether necessary on my part, let me now proceed to the eulogy proper, spurning all pret tiness and elegance in style, for she whom we are praising was unadorned and regarded lack of adornment as beauty. And I shall be paying, as a most requisite debt, the last rites due the dead, and at the same time I shall be instructing all in the zealous imitation of the same virtue. My purpose in every word and action is to advance the perfection of those who are committed to my trust. Let another, with more regard for the laws of panegyric, praise the country and the family of the deceased. And he will not lack many excellent topics, if he wishes to deck her with external ornaments, as one decks a beautiful form with gold and precious stones and embellish ments of art and hand. While these things betray ugliness by the very fact of their application, they cannot render more attractive the beauty which surpasses them. But having observed the rules in these matters to the extent of mentioning
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
our common parents, for it would be impious to pass over parents and teachers of such worth, I will turn my attention as quickly as possible to Gorgonia herself and not disappoint the wishes of those who are eager to hear about her.
(4) Who is there who does not know our new Abraham and the Sara of our time? I mean Gregory and his wife
Nonna. For it is not right to omit the mention of names that are an exhortation to virtue. He was justified by faith, and she has dwelt together with the man of faith. He beyond hope has been the father of many nations and she has brought them forth spiritually. He fled the bondage of his father's gods, and she is the daughter and the mother of the free. He went forth from his kindred and his father's house1 for the sake of the land of promise, and she was the occasion of his departure. In this one point, if I may speak a little boldly, she surpassed Sara herself. He nobly undertook this migration, and she was his zealous partner. He attached himself to the Lord, and she both called and considered her husband lord, and on that account she was in part justified. Theirs was the promise, theirs a son Isaac, as far as in them lay, and theirs the gift.
(5) This good shepherd was the product of his wife's prayers and guidance, and it was she who taught him the ideal of a good shepherd's conduct. He nobly fled from his idols, and later even put demons to flight, but she would never share salt with the worshipers of idols. They have been one in honor, one in mind, one in soul, and their bond no less a union of virtue and intimacy with God than of the flesh. They are equal in length of life and grey hairs, equal in prudence and splendor, vying with each other and excelling all the rest.
Bound but a little by the flesh, even before their dissolution they have been translated hence in spirit. The world is not theirs, and the world is theirs, in that they have despised this
1 Cf. Gen. 12.1.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
world and preferred in honor the world beyond. They have cast aside riches, yet they abound in riches through their noble traffic, since they scorn the goods of this world and deal rather in those of the next. Brief is the time remaining for them in this life, being only what is left over through their piety, but abundant and long-lasting is the life for which they have toiled. I will add still one more word about them.
They have been fairly and justly apportioned to the two sexes. He is the ornament of men, she of women, and not only an ornament but also a pattern of virtue.
(6) From them Gorgonia received both her being and her good repute. They were the source of the seeds of her piety, of her noble life, and of her joyful departure with better hopes. These, indeed, are fair blessings and such as do not easily accrue to many of those who take pride in their noble birth and puff themselves up because of their lineage. But if I must discourse concerning her in a more spiritual and lofty vein, Gorgonia's native land was the heavenly Jerusalem, the city not seen by the eye but perceived by the mind, in which we are citizens and whither we are hastening. Christ is a citizen there and His fellow citizens are the 'company and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens,'2 and who feast about its great Founder, in contemplation of His glory, and who participate in a never-ending chorus. Her nobility lay in the preservation of the divine image, and in her assimilation to the Archetype, which is effected by reason and virtue and that pure desire, which forms ever more and more, in the things of God, those truly initiated in the heavenly mysteries, and, finally, in her knowledge of our origin, our nature, and our destiny.
(7) Such is my knowledge of these matters. Therefore, I know and proclaim that her soul was nobler than all the 2 Heb. 12.22,23.
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
people of the East,3 using a higher rule and standard for nobility and ignobility than the majority of men, and distin guishing these not by birth but by character, and judging those who are blamed or praised not according to family, but as individuals. Since, however, I speak of her virtues among those who know her, let each one contribute some particular and assist me in my discourse. It is impossible for one man, however gifted with observation and intelligence, to embrace all her qualities.
(8) She so excelled in modesty and so surpassed all the women of her own day, not to mention those of old who were greatly famed for modesty, that in the two universal divisions of life, I mean the married and the unmarried states, of which one is more sublime and divine but more difficult and perilous, while the other is lower but safer, she avoided the disadvan tages of both and chose and united the sublimity of the one with the security of the other. And she was modest without being proud, blending the virtues of the married and the un married states, and showing that neither of these binds us completely to or separates us from God or the world. And so the one of its very nature is not to be altogether shunned nor the other exclusively praised. But it is the mind which nobly presides over both marriage and virginity, and these, like raw materials, are ordered and fashioned to virtue by the cratfsman, reason. Though she was linked in carnal union, she was not on the account separated from the Spirit, nor because she had her husband as her head did she ignore her first Head.
When she had served the world and nature a little, to the extent that the law of the flesh willed it, or, rather, He who imposed this law on the flesh, she consecrated herself wholly to God. And what is most excellent and honorable, she also won over her husband and gained, instead of an unreasonable
3 Cf. Job 1.3.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
master, a good fellow servant. Not only that, she also made the fruit of her body, her children and her children's children, the fruit of her spirit, and dedicated to God, instead of her single soul, her whole family and household. And she ren dered marriage itself laudable by her pleasing and acceptable life in wedlock and by the fair fruit of her union. And she exhibited herself, as long as she lived, as an exemplar of every excellence to her children. When she was summoned hence, she left her will behind her as a silent exhortation to her house.
(9) The divinely inspired Solomon in his instructive wis dom, I mean in his Proverbs,4 praises the woman who keeps her house and loves her husband. And in contrast to the woman who wanders abroad, who is uncontrolled and dis honorable, who hunts precious souls with wanton ways and words, he praises her who is engaged honorably at home, who performs her womanly duties with manly courage, her hands constantly holding the spindle as she prepares double cloaks for her husband, who buys a field in season, and carefully provides food for her servants, and receives her friends at a bountiful table, and who exhibits all other qualities for which he extols in song the modest and industrious woman. If I were to praise my sister on such counts, it would be like praising a statue for its shadow, or a lion for his claws, to the neglect of greater perfections. Who was ever more worthy to be seen, yet was seen less and kept herself more inaccessible to the eyes of men? Who knew better than she the bounds of gravity and gaiety, so that neither her gravity might seem uncouth nor her tenderness wanton, but the one prudent and the other gentle? Her norm of propriety was kindliness com bined with dignity. Listen, you women, you who are given overmuch to display and indolence, and who despise the veil of modesty. Who had such control over her eyes? Who so derided laughter that the very beginning of a smile seemed
4 Cf. Prov. 31.10ff.
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
almost too much to her? Who so barred the portals of her ears? And who opened them more to the divine words, or, rather, set her mind as guide over her tongue in narrating the judgments of God? Who so regulated her lips?
(10) I am sure that you wish me to mention also this special characteristic of hers. It regards something which to her, as to every woman truly modest and decorous in character, seemed of no account, but which is made to appear important by those who are overfond of ornament and ele gance and do not suffer correction from those who try to instruct them on such matters. She was never adorned with gold fashioned by art into surpassing beauty, or with fair tresses fully or partly exposed, or with spiral curls, or with the ingenious arrangements of those who disgracefully turn the noble head into a show piece. Hers were no costly, flowing, diaphanous robes, hers no brilliant and beautiful gems, flash ing color round about and causing the figure to glow with light. Hers were no devices and magic tricks of the painter, or that cheap beauty of the earthly creator who, by his rival craftmanship, hides with deceitful pigments the image of God and disgraces it with adornment and exhibits to wanton eyes the divine form as a meretricious idol, that this counterfeit beauty may steal away that natural image which is to be preserved for God and the world to come. But while she was familiar with the many and various external ornaments of women, she recognized none as more precious than her own character and the splendor which lies within. The only red that pleased her was the blush of modesty, and the only pallor, that which comes from abstinence. But pigments and makeup, and living pictures, and flowing beauty of form she left to the women of the stage and the public squares, and to all for whom it is a disgrace and a reproach to feel ashamed.
(11) So much for this subject. But there is no one who could give an adequate account of her prudence and her
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
piety, or find many examples besides those of her natural and spiritual parents. On these alone she fixed her eyes, and to them she was not inferior in virtue, save that she readily gave way to them in this, that she acknowledged and confessed that she derived her goodness from them and that they were the root of her own illumination. Who could be keener in in tellect than she who was known as a common counselor not only of her own family and those of the same people and the one fold, but also of all those about her, who regarded her suggestions and recommendations as an inviolable law? What was more sagacious than her words, more prudent than her silence? And since I have mentioned silence, I will add some thing especially characteristic of her, and most becoming to women, and most useful at the present time. Who knew better the things of God, both from the divine oracles and her own understanding? Further, who spoke less, confining herself within the womanly bounds of piety? And to mention the duty of a woman who has learned to be truly pious, that duty wherein alone insatiate desire is a noble thing, who has so adorned not only this temple, but other temples as well, with her offerings. I know not, now that she is gone, whether this one will ever be so adorned again. Who had such reverence for priests, and especially for him who was her fellow soldier and teacher, whose are the noble seeds, and the pair of sons consecrated to God?
(12) Who, more than she, threw open her house, with a courteous and generous welcome to those who live according to God? And, better still, who received them with such modesty, or advanced to meet them in a manner so pleasing to God? Further, who displayed a mind more tranquil in misfortune, or a heart more sympathetic to those in distress?
Who was more liberal to those in want? I would not hesitate to praise her in the words of Job: 'Her door was open to
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
every traveller, the stranger did no stay without.'5 6 'She was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame, and a mother to orphans.,b Of her compassion toward widows, what more need
I say than that she received as its fruit never to be called a widow herself? Her house was a common hospice for all her needy relatives, and her goods were as common to all the needy as their own personal belongings. 'She hath distributed, she hath given to the poor.'7 Because of the infallible truth of the divine promise, she stored up many treasures in the heavenly coffers, and often received Christ Himself in the person of the many to whom she had shown kindness. Best of all, she was more truly what she was than she appeared to be, and in secret she cultivated piety for Him who sees secret things. She snatched everything from the prince of this world, and she transferred it to safe storehouses. She left nothing behind to earth except her body. She exchanged all things for the hopes above. The only riches she left to her children were imitation of her example and emulation of her virtues.
(13) While she possessed such incredible magnanimity, she did not deliver her body to delights and the unrestrained pleasures of the belly, that mad and ravenous dog, as though she relied on her beneficence, as most men do, trying to redeem their luxury by compassion toward the poor, and, instead of healing evil by good, receive evil in the place of good. Nor, while subjecting her dust8 by fasting, did she leave to another the medicine of lying upon the ground, nor, while she adoped this means to benefit her soul, did she limit her sleep less than anyone else. Nor did she establish this law for herself as though independent of the body, and lie upon the ground while others passed sleepless nights standing erect,
5 Job 31.32, with a substitution of 'her' for 'my' to suit the context.
6 Job 29.15,16, with a shift from 'I' to 'she.'
7 Ps. 111.9, with a shift from 'he' to 'she.'
8 I.e., her body.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
a specially favored ascetical practice of spiritual men. Indeed, in this respect she surpassed in her fortitude not only women but the most high-minded men, in her intelligent chanting of the psalms, in her reading, explanation, and timely re collection of the divine oracles, in her bending of knees which had grown callous and, as it were, attached to the ground, in her tears to cleanse her stains with contrite heart and humility of spirit, in prayer lifting her up, and in her mind fixed in contemplation and rapture. In all these things or in any one of them, what man or woman can boast of having surpassed her? And it is a great thing to say, but nevertheless true, that, while she emulated some virtues, she was an example for emulation in others, and, while she dis covered some, she excelled in others. And if we grant that there were some who rivaled her in some particular virtue, she surpassed all to this extent, that she embraced all virtues.
Thus, she reached a higher perfection in all than anyone else attained, even moderately, in one, and she attained such per fection in each that one alone would have abundantly sufficed in place of all.
(14) O body uncared for, and garments bright with virtue alone! O soul, holding fast to a body all but deprived of food, as though it were immaterial, or, rather, being forced to die even before dissolution, that the soul might receive its freedom and not be fettered by the senses! O nights of vigil, and psalmody, and standing from sun to sun! O David, whose songs were never overlong for faithful souls! O tender limbs, thrown prostrate on the earth, and being hardened, contrary to nature! O fountains of tears, sown in affliction that they might reap in joy!9 O cry of the night, piercing the clouds and reaching to Him who dwells in heaven! O fervor of spirit, braving out of love of prayer the dogs of the night, the cold, the rain, the thunder, the hail and the darkness! O
9 Cf. Ps. 125.5.
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
nature of woman which overcame that of man in the common struggle for salvation, and proved male and female a dis tinction of body but not of soul! O chastity preserved after baptism, and soul espoused to Christ in the pure chamber of the body! O bitter tasting, and Eve, mother of our race and our sin, and deceitful serpent, and death, overcome by her abstinence! O emptying of Christ, and nature of a slave,10 and sufferings, honored by her mortification!
(15) Oh, how can I enumerate all her excellences, or, by passing over most of them, not do an injury to those who do not know them? But now it is proper to add an account of the rewards of her piety. I think that you who know her life are eagerly desirous of hearing in my discourse an account not only of present things and the rewards she enjoys in the world beyond which surpass the conception and hearing and sight of man, but also those which she received as requital from the just Rewarder in this life. For this serves to edify unbelievers, who attain to faith in great things from small, and in things unseen from those which are seen. I will mention some instances known to all, others which for the most part have been kept secret, because she scrupulously avoided priding herself on favors received.
You know the story of her mules getting out of control and running away with her carriage, and its dreadful over turn, how she was dragged along horribly and suffered serious injuries, and the scandal it became to unbelievers because the upright were allowed to suffer in this way, and the swift cor rection of their unbelief. Although crushed and mangled in ternally and externally in bone and limb, she would have no physician save Him who had permitted the accident, both because she shrank from the eyes and hands of men, guarding her modesty even in suffering, and also because she sought her vindication from Him who had allowed her to suffer thus.
10 Cf. Phil. 2.7.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
Nor from anyone else but Him did she obtain her restoration.
And so men were not more struck by her misfortune than they were amazed at her unexpected recovery, and they believed that the tragedy had happened for the very reason that she might be glorified by her sufferings. Although her suffering was human, her recovery was superhuman, and she gave to posterity a compelling argument for the display of faith in affliction and patient endurance in misfortune, but a far greater one for the loving kindness of God toward such as she. For to what is rightly said of the just man: 'When he shall fall, he shall not be bruised,'11 there was added later:
'Although he shall be bruised, he shall be quickly raised up again and glorified.'12 For if she was afflicted beyond what seemed possible, beyond what seemed possible also was she restored, so that returning health almost stole away her suffering, and the cure became more celebrated than the visitation.
(16) O renowned and admirable misfortune! O suffering more sublime than freedom from suffering! Oh, how those words, 'He will strike and He will bind us up, and He will heal us, and after three days He will raise us up,'13 although bearing a greater and more mystical meaning, as indeed they did, are yet apposite to her sufferings! However, this event is known to all, even those far off, for the fame of the wonder reached all men and engaged the tongues and ears of all, along with the other wonderful works and powers of God. But a fact hitherto unknown and kept secret from most men, because of her spiritual attitude already referred to, and the absence of pride and ostentation in her piety, do you bid me tell it, O best and most perfect of pastors,14 the pastor of this sheep, and do you finally give your assent? For this
11 Ps. 36.24.
12 Cf. Ps. 145.8.
13 Osee 6.1,2.
14 Faustinus, Bishop of Iconium, who was most probably present.
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
secret was entrusted to us alone and we were the mutual witnesses of the wonder. Or shall we continue to keep our faith to her who has departed? Yet it seems to me that, while there was then a time for silence, now is the time to reveal it, not only for the glory of God, but also for the consolation of those in affliction.
(17) She was sick in body and grievously afflicted with a malady of a strange and unusual character. All at once her whole body became fevered, with a heightening of the tem perature and a racing of the blood, followed by a sluggishness inducing coma, incredible pallor, and a paralysis of mind and limbs. And this occurred not at long intervals, but some times quite frequently. The terrible disease did not seem human. Neither the skill of physicians who carefully examined the case, both singly and in consultation, proved of any avail, nor her parents' tears, which were often very efficacious, nor public prayers and supplications, which, as though for their individual preservation, all the people offered on her behalf.
For they regarded her safety as their own, and, on the contrary, her sickness and affliction as a common disaster.
(18) What, then, was done by this great soul, worthy of the greatest favors, and what medicine was found for her malady? Herein lies the great secret. Despairing of all other help, she betook herself to the Physician of all, and, waiting till the dead of night, when the disease was somewhat abated, she prostrated herself with faith at the altar, and calling upon Him who is honored thereon, with a loud voice, and under every title, recalling all His miraculous works, for she was familiar with those of old as well as the new, she finally committed an act of pious and noble impudence. She imitated the woman whose hemorrhage was dried up by the hem of Christ's garment.15 And what did she do? Placing her head, with a similar cry, on the altar, and pouring abundant tears
15 Cf. Matt. 9.20.
ST. GREGORY NA TANZEN
upon it, as she who had once watered the feet of Christ,16 she vowed that she would not loose her hold until she obtained her recovery. Then she anointed her whole body with her own medicine, even a portion of the consecrated precious Body and Blood which she treasured in her hand, and with which she mingled her tears. O the wonder! At once she felt herself cured and went away relieved in body and soul and mind, having received what she hoped for as a reward of her hopes.
By her strength of soul she gained that of body. These things are great indeed, yet they are not untrue. Believe them, all you who are sick and you who are well, that you may keep your health or recover it. That this account is not mere boastfulness is clear from the fact that as long as she was alive she kept silence concerning what I have now revealed. Nor would I have divulged it even now, I assure you, were I not afraid to keep so great a wonder hidden from believers and unbelievers of the present and of future generations.
(19) Such was her life. I have passed over most of its de tails that my discourse might not exceed due bounds and lest I seem to have an insatiate desire of praising her. But perhaps I would be wronging her holy and celebrated death if I did not also commemorate some of its excellences, es pecially since she so eagerly desired it. I will do this as briefly as possible. She longed to be dissolved,17 for she had great confidence in Him who called her, and to be with Christ she valued above all the things of earth. And no one of the amorous and unlicenced so loves the body as she, having flung away these fetters and surmounted this slime with which we live, desired to be purely joined with her fair One and em brace her Beloved completely, and I will even add, her Lover.
His faint rays now illumine only to the extent that we can know from whom we are separated. Nor did she fail of this
16 Cf. Luke 7.38.
17 Cf. Phil. 1.23.
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
inspired and sublime desire, and, what is even more signi ficant, she enjoyed His beauty beforehand by her foreknowl edge and her long vigils. One sleep gave her the sweetest of rewards, and one vision embracing her departure at the foreappointed time, and even indicating the very day, that, by the ordination of God, she might be prepared and not be troubled.
(20) The blessing of purification and perfection, the common gift which we have all received from God as a foundation of our second life, had recently been conferred upon her. Rather, her whole life was a purification and a process of perfection. She did, indeed, receive her regeneration from the Holy Spirit, but its security was hers because of her previous life. And almost in her case alone, to speak some what boldly, the sacrament was not a grace, but a seal. She was eager that one blessing be added to all she had received, the perfection of her husband. If you wish me to describe him briefly, let me say that he was her husband, for I know not what further need be added. She wished to be consecrated to God in her whole body, and not depart this life only halfperfected, nor leave behind any part of her imperfect. She did not fail to obtain an answer even to this petition from Him who does the will of them that fear Him,18 and brings their pleas to fulfillment.
(21) All things had been accomplished according to her heart's desire, and no wish of hers lacked fulfillment, and the appointed day was near at hand. And so she prepared for death and departure, and, carrying out the usual law in this matter, she took to her bed. She enjoined on her husband, her children, and her friends such precepts as befitted one so full of love for her husband, her children, and her brothers, and she discoursed beautifully on the future life, making her last day a day of solemn festival. She then fell asleep, full, not 18 Cf. Ps. 114.19.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
of the days of man for which she had never prayed, knowing them to be evil for her and so closely associated with our dust and wandering, but exceedingly full of the days of God, so that her like could not easily be found among those who have died at a ripe old age and have counted many cycles of years.
Thus she was dissolved, or, better, taken to God, or she took wing, or changed her habitation, or departed a little before the body.
(22) Yet what a praiseworthy incident regarding her all but escaped me! But perhaps you, her spiritual father, would not have allowed its omission, since you carefully observed the wonder and made it known to me. It is a detail greatly enhancing her renown, and important for us, too, as a me morial of virtue and an inspiration to desire the same dis solution. But a shudder comes over me and tears arise when
I recall the marvel. She was just passing away and was breathing her last, and about her was a group of relatives and friends, showing the customary solicitude for the dying. Her aged mother, whose soul was in agony with envy at the de parture, was bent over her, while the love of all present was mingled with anguish. Some were eager to hear some word that might enkindle recollection within them; others desired to speak, but no one ventured to do so. There were silent tears and inconsolable pangs of grief, since it seemed an impious thing to honor with lamentation one dying in this way. There was profound silence and her death took on the semblance of a sacred ceremony. To all appearance she neither breathed nor stirred nor uttered any sound. Her silence seemed to indicate her dissolution, as though the organs of speech had ceased to function because of the withdrawal of the soul that moved them. But her pastor, who was carefully observing everything about her, because of the manifest wonder of the circumstances, perceived that her lips were moving slightly. He put his ear close to them, for his character
ON HIS SISTER, ST. GORGONIA
and sympathy gave him confidence—but do you yourself explain the mystery of this stillness! No one will disbelieve your word! She was faintly murmuring a psalm, the closing words of a psalm, and truly they are a testimony of her con fidence in her parting. Blessed indeed is he who can close his life with the words: 'In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and I will rest.'19 These were the words, fairest of women, which came to your lips, and they were appropriate to you.
And your psalmody was given realization, a eulogy coincident with your departure. And you have attained to glorious peace after your sufferings, and have received, beyond the rest common to all, that sleep due to the beloved of God,20 fitting indeed for one who lived and died amid the words of piety.
(23) I am sure that in comparison with those things which are seen by the eye, greater and far more precious are the blessings which you now enjoy, the sound of those feasting,21 the choirs of angels, the heavenly host, the spectacle of glory, and the effulgence, more pure and more perfect than any other, of the Most High Trinity, no longer evading the mind fettered and dissipated. by the senses, but beheld and com prehended wholly with the whole mind, and illuminating our souls with the whole light of the Godhead. May you enjoy to the full those things, the emanations of which you received while still upon the earth, because of the sincere in clination of your mind toward them. If you have any interest in our affairs, and the perception of such things is a privilege granted saintly souls by God, please accept in place of and above many funeral gifts this discourse of mine, a tribute ren dered to Caesarius before you and to you after him, since I have been preserved to deliver funeral orations upon my broth er and sister. Whether anyone, now that you have gone, will pav me like honor, I cannot say. But may I receive only that 19 Ps. 4.10.
20 Cf. Ps. 126.2.
21 Cf. Ps. 41.5.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
honor which is pleasing to God, both during my pilgrimage and in my home, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory forever. Amen.